Vittore Carpaccio. Paintings and drawings: appointment with great art at the Doge's Palace

We are talking about an extraordinary artist, one of the great protagonists of 15th century Venetian painting, skilfully hosted and recounted today in the splendid setting of the Doge's Palace. He is universally known for his large "venetian teleri" (vast pictorial compositions on canvas) and for his cycles of religious and narrative works, Vittore Carpaccio (1460-1526). The artist in his painting, stages the splendour and magnificence of 15th century Venice, dragging the aspects attributed to the divine in daily life, always straddling the sacred and the profane, blending biblical tales with the architecture and places of the city with great skill. An exhibition like this one helps to understand the work of a visionary artist, difficult to comprehend, to whom a monographic exhibition had not been dedicated since 1963, at the time housed in the Doge's Palace itself.

Sometimes unjustly overshadowed by his contemporaries such as I Bellini, or even later by the masters of Venetian colourism such as Titian or Giorgione, Carpaccio has once again become an object of research for contemporary historiography, which, also thanks to continuous discoveries, attributions and restorations, has allowed for a greater and more precious deepening in terms of historical-artistic knowledge and the character that has conditioned its rediscovery. From these premises was born the great monographic today housed in the rooms of the Appartamento del Doge 

The exhibition itinerary is conceived and co-realized together with The National Gallery in Washington and maintains the sign of an itinerary, both in terms of thematic and chronological development, of everything that concerns the evolution of Carpaccio's art. A journey in succession that becomes almost a comparative analysis of his religious paintings alongside the more secular and genre paintings, exhibited together with a considerable nucleus of drawings that show the public all the incredible technical expertise of this artist, his meticulousness in the rendering of landscapes, his ability to describe reality in detail, his prospective investigation and his lighting effects. 

A very important celebration to give back glory to an artist who has given pride and great consideration, consolidating the indissoluble pair between art and the Venetian capital. The art historian Giulio Carlo Argan in his History of italian art underlines how the painter "sees and communicates what is seen, does not teach to pray, philosophize, fantasize". In this sense his lesson will be assimilated by other great artists such as Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Bassano, up to Canaletto. A synthesis of landscape, balance, perspective that becomes more and more evident in the exhibition room after room.

The exhibition will therefore attempt to retrace the artist's life and art from his youth to his artistic consecration, recomposing some of his narrative cycles now dispersed, and tracing and advising visitors on the different places in the area where to admire his production, including: the school of San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, the school of Santa Maria degli Albanesi and the collection of paintings in the Academy Galleries.

The museum is open to the public from Sunday to Thursday 8.30 a.m. - 9.00 p.m. (last admission 8.30 p.m.); Friday and Saturday 8.30 a.m. - 11.00 p.m. (last admission 10.30 p.m.) and the exhibition will be open until 1st October 2021.

The full ticket costs 25,00 euro and is valid for the Ducal Palace and the integrated route of the Correr Museum, National Archaeological Museum, Monumental Rooms of the Marciana National Library. It is valid for 3 months and allows only one entrance to each building.

The reduced ticket costs 13,00 euros and is for the exclusive use of the following categories: children from 6 to 14 years old, students from 15 to 25 years old, visitors over 65 years old, staff of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT), Rolling Venice Card holders, ISIC - International Student Identity Card holders.